Marie Selby Botanical Gardens President and CEO Named to Florida Trend Magazine’s Florida 500 List for Second Consecutive Year

The Giving Coast

For the second year in a row, Florida Trend Magazine has named President and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki to the Florida 500, a list of Florida’s most influential business leaders representing 500 candidates from major industries. Florida Trend editors selected executives through hundreds of interviews and months of research to create a biographical guide to a selection of Florida’s leaders. Since joining Selby Gardens in 2015, Rominiecki is a visionary and brings 20 years of experience in the industry. A major cultural institution in New York City. Since arriving, she has repositioned the facility as The Living Museum®, implemented a new operating model, and increased membership by 170% and overall revenue by 141%. Rominiecki also oversaw the development and execution of a five-year strategic plan, a new three-year strategic plan, and an innovative master site plan that raised more than $57 million. The first phase of the master site plan will open to the public in January 2024, creating the world’s first net positive energy botanical garden complex. In May 2020, she adopted Historic Spanish Point as a sister campus to Selby Gardens Downtown Sarasota, with two bayfront preserves that connect people with the world’s aerial flora, native nature, and local history. Oversaw the formation of one organization. Rominiecki is the former Chairman of the Board of VISIT FLORIDA. She currently serves on the boards of the Sarasota Greater Chamber of Commerce, Sarasota County Arts and Culture Alliance, Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, Southwest Florida Science and Environment Council, and Lafayette College Southeast Advisory Council. During Rominiecki’s tenure, she and Selby Gardens received numerous awards. Most recently, Selby Gardens was included in TIME magazine’s 2024 annual list of the World’s Greatest Places. Additionally, Visit Sarasota named Rominiecki the “Voice of Sarasota 2024.” Business and Professional Women of North Sarasota named Rominiecki its 2024 Woman of the Year. The Center for Climate Adaptation then named Rominiecki a Climate Champion and awarded him the 2024 Climate Champion Beacon Award. The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce named Selby Gardens the 2021 “Women-Led Business of the Year” and the 2019 “Small Business/Small Business of the Year.” In 2019, Ms. Rominiecki was named Business Woman of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. In 2017, she received the AJC Civic Achievement Award and the Arts Management Leadership Award from the Sarasota County Arts and Culture Alliance. She is also the recipient of SRQ Magazine’s Women in Business “Hear Me Roar” award. Recipient of the 2016 Leadership Award.